MST3K 307 - Daddy-O
The Short Synopsis A charming rhyme for children that teaches them the alphabet, including many now politically-incorrect things, dangerous sequences, and some plagiarism. Information * First education short featured on the series. The Movie Synopsis A truck-driving singer named Phil meets a blonde bombshell when she tries to run his truck off the road. Guy meets girl again at a nightclub. They have a drag race. Meanwhile, Phil’s best friend is run off the road by drug-dealing bad guys and dies in the crash. Though our hero is briefly accused of causing the accident that killed his best friend, he is quickly exonerated. Phil goes undercover at the bad guys’ nightclub (taking on the alias "Daddy-O") to find out who really caused his best friend’s death. He sings at the nightclub and moonlights driving the drug smugglers’ car. The blonde girl wants to help him investigate, so she gets hired on as a cigarette girl, against Phil’s wishes. The good guys solve the crime and fall in love. Information *Dick Contino http://www.dickcontino.com/ was an accomplished accordionist. *In 1994 Contino gained a bit of notoriety due to James Ellroy’s fictional short story “Dick Contino’s Blues.” Actor Dick Contino is the hero of the short story, which takes place during the filming of “''Daddy-O''”. The short story is featured in the collection "Hollywood Nocturnes." *Music composed by John Williams (making his debut here). The Episode Host Segments Prologue: The workers of Sat-O-Love Industries hang out at the water cooler and hit on Gypsy. Segment One (Invention Exchange): Joel creates an air freshener mobile for nurseries, while the Miracle Growth Baby from Time of the Apes demonstrates the terrifying but benign Alien Teething Nook. Segment Two: Joel and the Bots jam out to "Hike Your Pants Up". Segment Three: Crow and Servo re-enact the drag race between Dick Contino and the girl from the movie. Segment Four: Joel demonstrate spit-takes, only to be interrupting by Bruce, the annoying locker room guy from the film. Segment Five: Joel ponders the "Want some?" scene from the movie, reads lots of letters, Frank offers Dr. Forrester fruit, and the Miracle Growth Baby breaks the button, so the credits stop and start several times. Stinger: Bruce remains extremely unhelpful, “Couldn’t help ya if I wanted to, fella. Gym policy.” Guest Stars *''Miracle Growth Baby'': Timothy Scott *''Bruce'': Michael J. Nelson *''Gerry the Mole Man'': Unknown Trivia *'Unusual credits': The button is broken by the Miracle Growth Baby and it won't stay pushed. As a result, the credits constantly stop and go back to Deep 13, catching the Mads doing various activities. *Jim Mallon moves from writer to contributing writer for the rest of the season. *Paul Chaplin joins the show as a contributing writer in this episode. *''“The Pants Up Song”'' was written by Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy. *The extended button sequence was cut for the version of Daddy-O that aired on the Mystery Science Theater Hour. *On one infamous occasion when this episode was aired, a Penn Jillette voiceover promo was run over the extended credit sequence where the button refuses to remain pushed. The outcry from MSTies resulted in Comedy Central declaring they would no longer do voiceovers during the MST3K credits. * This episode aired fourteenth during Turkey Day '91. Callbacks * “Ya got me!” (Catalina Caper) * “Chili peppers burn my gut” (The Side Hackers) * “Hey that’s from Catalina Caper!” * “The driver is either missing or…” (The Phantom Creeps) * “I don’t care!” (Time of the Apes) Obscure References *The Alien Teething Nook is strongly reminiscent of the face-huggers from the Alien series. *''"You vill dance vith me Eva!!"'' :As the dancing moppet resembles a young Hitler, Crow refers to his dancing partner as Hitler's longtime companion Eva Braun. *"Q is for the queer, queer pelican. Whose beak holds more than his belly can." "P is for Plagiarism from Ogden Nash!" :Ogden Nash was an American poet who wrote what is known as 'light poetry' for much of his career. The verse from 'Alphabet Antics' attempts the same type of humorous rhyming reminiscent of his style. (See some of Nash's works here.) *''(As students in vegetable costumes walk by.) "Hey! Boo Radley!"'' :Referring to the scene in To Kill a Mockingbird where Scout walks home dressed as a ham with her brother, and both are assaulted by antagonist Bob Ewell. They are then saved by Arthur "Boo" Radley. *''"It's Los Lobos with Steve Allen on bass!" :Los Lobos is an American Chicano rock band; Steve Allen was a TV personality & writer who was the first host of The Tonight Show. He was known for wearing thick horn-rimmed eyeglasses much like the musician in the movie. *(After a female audience member screams off-screen)'' "Oh, they're taping 'Rollercoaster' here." :A reference to the hit single "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players. During the breakdown, a high inhaling screech can be heard, which gave rise to an urban legend that it was the sound of a woman being murdered. *''"John Frankenheimer directs 'Race For The Pizza!'"'' :John Frankenheimer was an American director know for films such as ''The Manchurian Candidate'','' ''Grand Prix, The Island of Dr. Moreau, & [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronin_%28film%29 Ronin]. *''"Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in 'The Color of Days of Thunder, The Car, Christine, Herbie'!"'' :Paul Newman and Tom Cruise had co-starred in the film The Color of Money, which is about billiards. Cruise later starred in Days of Thunder, which is about stock car racing. The other names are also references to car-themed films (The Car and Christine both being about murderous cars, while Herbie was the playful Volkswagon Beetle from the Love Bug series). * "Gotham City, 14 miles." :In the 1966 TV series Batman, when the Batmobile would leave the secret Bat-Cave, it would pass a sign on the road that said "Gotham City, 14 miles." * "How'd he get on that side of her? Tyco Change-Up Track?" :Tyco is a toy manufacturer that specializes in slot-car racing sets. Change-Up Track allows the cars to change lanes. * "Here comes Peggy Lee with the coffee....'She's a Tramp'." :Referring to torch singer Peggy Lee's song He's a Tramp from the Disney animated feature Lady and the Tramp. *''"Return to Papillon."'' :Papillion was a book and movie about an escape from a penal colony in French Guiana. *''"Why couldn't this guy be on the plane instead of Buddy Holly?"'' :A riff referencing the plane crash that claimed the life of musical talent Buddy Holly (along with other talents like Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper). This event inspired Don McLean's song American Pie. *"Smile! You got a Blatz beer comin', the heartiest, heartiest flavor in the laaaaaand!" :Blatz was a Milwaukee-based beer company that began in 1851 & was bought by Pabst in 1959. *''"Watch out for that treeeeee....AahhhhAahhhhh...Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom!"'' :Joel and the bots are singing the George of the Jungle theme song. *''"It's Orson Welles!" "We will sell no dope before it's time" "In the fourth quatrain, Nostradamus predicted..."'' :All references to various things actor and director Orson Welles appeared in after Citizen Kane: one being a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSs6DcA6dFI commercial for Paul Masson Wine] and the other hosting an ABC made-for television special Nostradamus: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow. Welles was a heavyset man, much like Chillas. *''"Beaker! No!!" "Mee mee! Mee mee!!"'' :A reference to the Muppet lab assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. "Mee mee" was all he could say, as he continually endured the usually dangerous effects of Dr. Honeydew's inventions. * "It's a milkman! ... Reid Fleming, World's Toughest..." :Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman is the titular character of an independent comic book created by David Boswell. Video releases *Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in July 2015 as part of Volume XXXIII, a 4-disc set along with Earth vs the Spider, Teen-Age Crime Wave, and Agent for H.A.R.M.. **The DVD includes the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures feature Beatnik Blues: Investigating Daddy-O! and MST Hour wraps. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes with shorts Category:Teen Exploitation Category:Mystery Science Theater Hour Episodes Category:Unrated movies Category:Crime movies